


Epilogue: Requiem and Choice

by Ingonyama



Series: Dungeons and Dragons: Return to the Realm [1]
Category: Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Gen, Redemption, Requiem, Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ingonyama/pseuds/Ingonyama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the end of "Requiem", the students of Dungeon Master have a choice to make. And not everyone is as eager to go back to a normal life as they thought...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epilogue: Requiem and Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!
> 
> I've been working on this for a couple of years, and the first chapters are finally ready to be released! Hooray!
> 
> Before reading this, it's important to familiarize yourself with "Requiem", the end of the series as planned by Michael Reaves. You can find a synopsis and a link to the script here:
> 
> http://www.dungeonsdragonscartoon.com/2009/08/requiem.html
> 
> With that said, enjoy!

  
“Did you see that?!”

  
Eric climbed shakily to his feet, trembling. Before him, the vault lay dark and empty, the last wisps of magic still escaping, but most of it loose and running rampant through the Realm around him. After what he’d just witnessed, the normally-brash and outspoken Cavalier found it an effort to speak in anything above a whisper.

“You kidding? We were all ringside!” Diana’s voice came from behind him, even her usually-cheerful tone muted by awe.

From the tower they stood upon, the pupils of Dungeon Master could see a rainstorm of magic emanate from the citadel they stood in, the bolts of energy opening portals on the ground where they struck. Too far away to make out, Eric saw hordes of races race for the portals…the lizard men to a jungle-like world that looked like it had three suns, the Orcs to a place with a midnight-black sky, even whole flocks of humans within the Realm dashing to a place that looked like a quaint old-world hamlet.

“Looks like Hank was right after all…” Presto breathed out behind them. “We were _all_ prisoners here…Venger included!”

“HANK!” Eric didn’t realize how he could be so stupid. Not two minutes ago, their friend and leader had gone over the edge of the abyss they were even now looking over…due to one of Venger’s monsters and a shock wave from Bobby’s club.

Between the guilt-ridden Barbarian and the concerned Cavalier, it was hard to decide who got to the edge faster. But their worry turned to relief when they saw a green-and-brown-clad figure about ten feet down, positioned precariously on a tiny shelf of rock that protruded from the cliff wall. He looked up at them with a glare that was only partly serious.

“Well, don’t just stand there… _pull me up!_ ”

Diana wasted no time extending her staff. With Eric and Bobby holding on to her for support, she pulled him to safety…just in time for him to be almost sent over the edge again as Sheila caught him in a tight, fierce hug.

“Don’t you ever scare us like that again! We thought you’d…I thought you’d…”

Tears streamed down her face as Hank returned her embrace, tightly, gently. He knew what she wanted to say…she hadn’t exactly been subtle about her feelings the whole time they’d been in the Realm. But now wasn’t the time for it…

“Hey…what’s happening to Venger?” Presto asked, pointing.

“Something horrible, I hope,” Eric deadpanned. As usual, it had been the warlock who’d tricked them into coming here and fought them to a standstill. When Eric had opened the cenotaph, the villain had been struck by the brunt of its magic, and was completely enveloped by its glow. Finally, the sound of his voice came to them…he was screaming. But not in pain…

As the six children watched, Venger changed…so much so that when the light faded from him, the being who fell to his hands and knees was barely recognizable as their longtime, inveterate foe.

His red-and-black robes had shifted to blue and white, a deep blue like the clearest sky, and a white so brilliant it almost hurt to look at. His face had turned from its demonic visage to a truly handsome face, losing its deathly pallor in exchange for a healthier, more human tone. His winged cloak had gone from black and batlike to white and feathered…though the feathers looked made of steel…and there were now two white horns on his cowl, though even they no longer looked evil. And when he opened his eyes, they were the same color as Dungeon Master’s…a striking, pale turquoise that unnerved, but didn’t terrify as his crimson eyes had just a moment ago.

What had happened was apparent to all, though no one was quite willing to trust it yet. No one, that is, except Hank.

“I was right! Our mission in the Realms wasn’t to _defeat_ Venger…it was to _redeem_ him!”

The man-who-had-been-Venger’s face was a myriad of different emotions as he took a step toward the children…Gratitude? Regret? Contrition? However, before he could speak, a prismatic diamond of light materialized between him and them, and Dungeon Master stepped out, his face calm and composed except for the shining joy in his eyes.

Now it was the kids’ turn to have too many emotions for their faces to express…none of them good. The last time they’d seen Dungeon Master, he’d rejected their pleas for help and left them to the mercy of a Hydra…while they’d survived, that desertion had rendered them vulnerable to Venger’s manipulation in the first place. But now when he looked at them, joy on his face and apology in his eyes, they knew that just like everything else he had done over the years, both to them and for them, it had been a test.

“Thank you, my students. You have done the one thing it was never in my power to do…you have returned my son to me.”

The response to this was as immediate as it was cacophonic.

“ _You’re_ Venger’s father?!” Eric burst out in frank astonishment.

“There’s not a big family resemblance…” Presto mused pensively.

“We could have been killed! AGAIN!” Sheila burst out furiously.

“You knew what he was trying to make us do all along?!” Diana asked in surprise.

“Why I oughta…” Bobby gritted his teeth and brandished his club.

A hand rested itself gently on Bobby’s club. He looked up, expecting to see Hank exercising his usual restraint…but his blood went cold when he saw the ‘new’ Venger looking at him, and all of them, with those same unfathomably emotional eyes.

“Perhaps I had better explain,” he said, and when he spoke his voice no longer reverberated with evil and dark power…it was deep, soft, and gentle, a voice that might have belonged to a singer once, or spoken words of reassurance and caring to the needy or sick. In any case, it affected the Dungeon Master’s students enough to quiet them down.

Venger continued, in that voice that could never have belonged to him. “Dungeon Master is my father…he taught me all he knew of magic, and tried to instruct me in the ways of wisdom and compassion. But I was never interested in such lessons, and I made the mistake of following another master…one of evil.”

“The Nameless One,” Hank said simply, and a shudder rippled through everyone, even Dungeon Master. It had been a primal force of evil, an enemy that could not be fought, could not be reasoned with, only fled from. At least Venger had been beatable, in one way or another.

Venger nodded, biting his lip. It surprised the students, though they supposed it shouldn’t have, to see even, human teeth in place of the fangs he had always possessed. “He gave me secrets Dungeon Master never would…power beyond imagining. But he also twisted me, and my views, to their darkest possible slant. For a thousand years I was his creature…Venger the archdemon, scourge of the Realm. This cenotaph was where I locked away all that Dungeon Master had given me, and where I tried to destroy the key that would unlock it. When that failed, I sought instead to seal it away at the edge of the Realm, so that none could find the secret to returning me to who and what I was.”

He bowed his head and knelt before Dungeon Master, looking the diminutive being in the eye. “Can you ever forgive me, Father?”

Dungeon Master caught his son up in a hug, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Oh, Venger…my Venger, you needn’t worry. You have been freed from the evil that has imprisoned you for all these long centuries…your own prison is unlocked, and you are free to be yourself again forevermore.”

He broke the embrace and turned to his students. “My children…all of you…have done something more wonderful this day than any feat you have ever performed. Everyone who has been trapped in the Realm has been freed, sent to their home worlds across space and time, mere hours after they left. You have saved all those trapped within the Realm…including that which is most precious to me. I can do no less for you.”

As he spoke, he raised his hands, and one final bolt burst forth from the vault, striking the ground before the children. As they jumped back, the gate opened…  
…To reveal the amusement park they’d been trying to get back to for the last three years. And behind it, their hometown, sprawling and modern. The childrens’ faces lit up with delight, and cheers went up from everyone…even Uni danced and bleated in childlike glee.

“You are free to return to your own world now, if you wish.” Dungeon Master said, his eyes going from one student to the next. “Or you may remain here, in the Realm. There is still much evil to be dealt with, and many adventures yet to be had. The choice, my children, is yours.”  
  
The choice wasn’t much of a choice at all for most of them. Eric, to no one’s surprise, led the charge into the gate. He turned back to give Dungeon Master a thumbs-up, even as he stuck his tongue out at the old archmage. “Don’t think it’s been fun, because it hasn’t!” he shouted, tossing his enchanted shield to the ground as he leapt through the gate with a joyous whoop.

“Farewell, Cavalier.” Dungeon Master said, a sad smile on his wizened face as he picked up the shield. “You questioned me every step of the way, and for that, I find…I shall miss you.”

Presto followed suit, throwing Dungeon Master his hat as he walked toward the gate. “From now on, I’m sticking with card tricks. They’re less likely to blow up in my face!”

“Greater risks lead to greater rewards, Magician,” Dungeon Master answered with an enigmatic quirk of his brow. “But I understand. Farewell.” Presto gave him a wave and walked through the portal after Eric.

Diana was next, handing her staff to Dungeon Master with a smile. “Listen…we’ve been through a lot, and you know I’d help out more…but I’ve got a home to get back to. I’m just starting out as a professional gymnast…I’ve got my whole life ahead of me.”

“You need not explain yourself to me, Acrobat,” Dungeon Master said with a warm, caring smile. “I gave you this choice because you have earned it. I think no less of you for following your heart back home…instead, I will cherish your memory, as I do all my students, and remember you with gladness and gratitude for all the help you have given my Realm. Go, Diana, and be happy in your life.” Diana kissed the old man on the cheek, then ran through the portal with a laugh of delight.

Dungeon Master turned to his remaining students. Bobby was kneeling beside Uni, catching her in a tight embrace while tears streamed down his cheeks. Sheila knelt beside him, gently pulling him to his feet as she doffed her cloak and handed it to Dungeon Master.

“What’s gonna happen to Uni?” Bobby asked, handing his club over. He wanted to go home as much as anyone…but he didn’t want to leave the creature who had become his best friend over the course of their time together.

“She’s gonna grow up proud and strong, and become the most beautiful unicorn in the world,” came a voice behind him. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Bobby and Sheila turned as one in surprise. “Hank…?” Sheila started in disbelief. The Ranger stood beside Uni, a hand on her mane. The other clutched his bow as though it were a lifeline. His face was uncertain, but his stance was determined.

“Sheila, you and Bobby have a home to go to, a life to live. I…never really felt like I belonged over there. Here, I have a chance to keep doing good, to be a hero for an entire world. There? I’m just a run of the mill high school student, a face in the crowd.”

Sheila shook her head, almost refusing to believe what she was hearing. “But…we’re your _friends_! Don’t you care about me…us?”

Hank stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “You know I do. That’s part of why I’ve gotta stay. We’ve been all over the Realm; we’ve seen portals in other places, leading to our world. What Dungeon Master said is true…there’s still evil to be fought here. If no one stands against it…it could find its way to Earth. I’m not gonna make anyone else fight this…you and Bobby should go home. But I feel like I belong here…I want to stay. I _have_ to stay.”

Bobby tore out of his sister’s arms and rushed to Hank’s side. “I’m gonna stay too then! I wanna help fight!”

Hank knelt beside Bobby and gave him a hug. “No, Bobby. Like I said, you and Sheila should go home. You've just barely turned ten…no one with any kind of conscience could ask you to fight any more than you already have. You’ve been forced to grow up here, faster than anyone wanted. But now you have a chance to get your old life back, to go back to school, make friends…live like a kid should, and grow up normal. What kind of friend would I be if I told you not to do that?”

“It’s not your choice, _Hank_!” Bobby said, biting his lip in fury. “Dungeon Master gave the choice to _all_ of us! An’ if you’re gonna stay and fight, then I will too! I don’t wanna leave Uni! I don’t wanna leave _you_!”

“Bobby, you get back here this minute!” Sheila said, in a harsh, no-nonsense tone she rarely used. “I am not leaving you behind here! What do I tell Mom and Dad when they ask why you didn’t come back? When they ask why I’m suddenly an only child?! Hank’s already staying, now you’re saying I’m going to lose you too? How could you even think of leaving me all alone?”

There it was; her deepest, darkest fear. _Solitude_. Like anyone, Sheila could handle being by herself as long as she knew she had friends and family out there. But being truly alone…losing the people she cared about…it chilled her to the bone.

Venger stepped forward now, and put a hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “I may not be the most qualified person to say this…but I think the Ranger and your sister are right. Trust me when I say, once you lose your way here, it’s almost impossible to find it again.”

“Besides,” Hank said, reaching into his satchel. “You’ve got something else waiting for you back home.” And he pulled out a locket that sparkled in the light reflected from the portal.

Bobby’s eyes lit up. “TERRI!” Dashing away his tears, he snatched the necklace from Hank’s hands. Then he knelt beside Uni and hugged her one last time. “Promise me you’ll take care of her, Hank.”

“I promise,” he said, as Bobby let go. Uni bleated a tearful farewell to her friend as he walked towards the portal. At the threshold, he turned back, and saw Sheila standing before Hank, who looked increasingly uncomfortable.

“Sheila, I…I never said it, but…”

“You don’t have to,” she said, still trying to stay brave. “I know. I just wish it were enough.” She looked back at him with naked worry in her eyes. “Take care of yourself too, all right? Be safe…for me. For all of us.”

Hank nodded, and caught her up in a tight embrace, running his hands through her fiery red hair. “I’ll miss you,” he said.

“Thank you for talking Bobby into coming home with me,” she replied. Then she broke the embrace, and without a second look, she and Bobby went through the portal. As it closed behind him, Hank kissed his fingers and held them out, as Sheila waved during the last few seconds of the portal’s existence

Then it was gone, and Hank was left alone with Uni, Venger, and Dungeon Master in the cenotaph.  
  
~ **The Next Morning** ~  
  
It had been a horrible night for Terri, plagued by dreams she didn’t understand about a place she’d never seen. Thank goodness school was still normal….she could pretend to pay attention, pretend the insanity hadn’t happened, that she hadn’t met the bravest young man in the world and had to say goodbye to him all on the same night.

The lunch bell rang, but she wasn’t hungry. He was too fresh in her mind. She trudged out of the classroom, wondering idly if she could go to the nurse’s office and get the rest of the day off…

“HEY TERRI!”

That voice…so loud and brash, so earnest and heartbreakingly _familiar_ …made her look up.

 _It’s not him, it_ can’t _be…I know what I saw, but…I never hoped, never dreamed!_

But the Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow had never been wrong, and that last dream had been no exception. There Bobby stood, in a garish orange shirt and blue jeans, as devil-may-care and real as could be.

And in his hand…

The sparkle of her locket, a bit more battered and bruised from its time apart from her, but still in one piece. “You lose somethin’?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

“Bobby? Bobby, it’s you! It’s really you!”

And just like that, they were hugging, two fast friends reunited, and Bobby started to accept the simple fact:

_We’re home._


End file.
